Suns Turn Up Intensity on Sonics in Third

Like a wild cat on the serengeti the Suns played with their prey during the first half of a basketball game last night before attacking the jugular in the third quarter to put the Sonics down 113-102. The Suns got huge nights from Steve Nash and Shawn Marion, which has been the norm lately, but also saw very good performances from Leandro Barbosa and the bench.

Kurt Thomas was a game changer last night. Until we put Kurt in the Sonics seemed to match everything we did and they were up, by as much as 10, for the most part of the first half. Then the second half came around and the Suns quickly picked up the intensity and went on a run that would give them the lead. Kurt Thomas' defense was a major reason for the Suns third quarter success. They were getting to the rim at will until Kurt came in and put his stamp on the game.

At one point Kurt swatted a shot in the lane that continued to stay in play when Leandro Barbosa quickly pounced on the ball and initiated the fast break. Leandro broke the game open by a succession of fast break points as he would always seem to be on the other end of the court when the ball was inbounded. Steve Nash got a number of easy assists just by chucking the rock clear across the court for a Leandro layup. Leandro is quickly becoming the face of Suns fast break basketball. He seems to be leading the team in fast break points this year in place of Shawn Marion. These guys were made for this system.

Steve continued his MP3 play behind a stellar shooting night that kept us competitive even when the rest of the team was sluggish. He hit every big shot we needed to keep us in the game with mind boggling efficiency. Also in all-star form was Shawn Marion who was extremely active everywhere on the floor. He played a great game on a night when Amare Stoudemire couldn't get it going.

James Jones appears to be back as he continued his hot shooting going 4-5 from the field and 1 of 2 from downtown, including a rare four point play. James can bring a lot to the table when he is shooting well. Last year we saw many times when Junior would shoot the three and extend his leg out to draw contact from the defender and wind up with three free throws or the rare four point play. Thank you Reggie Miller.

This game appeared to be business as usual for the Suns who are taking care of business everywhere they step. I love the continued progress of the team and every player is getting a chance to shine. I don't know why but the Sonics always seem to bring it against the Suns and last night we saw Nick Collison go off. He played heady and took advantageg of all the mismatches that came his way. The Suns defense was just too much for Nick and the Sonics who shot only 44% from the field and 29% from three point land. Give credit to Raja who made Ray Allen force up a lot of tough shots. Allen was just 9 of 23 from the field and 3 of 11 from three.